Edge Ask The Experts

Should I Have a Security Travel Policy to Protect Devices and Sensitive Data?

Mobile devices are lost or hacked while in transit far too frequently. Here are some steps to protect your business.

Question: Should I have a security travel policy to protect devices and sensitive data, particularly when our staff are crossing international borders?

Kurtis Minder, CEO of GroupSense: Absolutely, unless you don't mind constantly losing those devices. According to a Ponemon Institute and Dell study, 12,000 laptops are lost each year in airports alone. Laptops, mobile phones, and other devices are also frequently left in cabs, bars, ballparks — you name it. And the passwords people use on their laptops are easily cracked because most people use the same passwords across multiple accounts, so some simple credential stuffing will give bad people access to your system. We saw this happen when Disney+ launched, and the same approach can be used to gain access to your laptop and all of the systems and accounts on it.

What should a travel policy include? First of all, rigid requirements around disk encryption, VPN use, and secure communications (encrypted messaging, calling, etc.) should be standard for international travel. Further, for some countries, policy may dictate that corporate devices or devices containing corporate or client information cannot be taken. In this case, the company may offer "burner" devices specially configured for the team member and the trip mission.

Kurtis Minder is the co-founder and CEO of GroupSense, an enterprise digital risk protection company. He is also a frequent contributor to the start-up community and serves as an advisor and mentor to growing companies. He arrived at GroupSense after more than 20 years in ... View Full Bio